Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > help please    

help please



janaesl
Saudi Arabia

help please
 
which of the sentence is correct.
 
I am sorry for losing your book
 
or
I am sorry about losing your book.
 
thanks in advance

13 Oct 2012      





elwirafinka
Poland

Hi!

�for � is the correct option :)

13 Oct 2012     



sugarpasa
Turkey

I am sorry about your book

I am sorry for losing your book

:D

13 Oct 2012     



cunliffe
United Kingdom

Both the sentences you give are fine in that context. There is a difference between �sorry for� and �sorry about� and I�ll explain later (unless somebody else gets on and does it first.Embarrassed) I�m feeling lazy, sorry about that. 

13 Oct 2012     



libertybelle
United States

I don �t see any difference.
The blame for losing the book is the first person "I" in both cases.

Libertybelle

13 Oct 2012     



Darlamama
France

I would go for "for".

14 Oct 2012     



joy2bill
Australia

Just to confuse you, I would probably say, "I �m sorry I lost your book." Much easier, quite natural and leaves out the tricky prepositions!Wink

14 Oct 2012     



Apodo
Australia

Both your sentences are correct, as is joytobill �s.
I am sorry for losing your book.
I am sorry about losing your book.
I �m sorry I lost your book.
 
I would always use sorry for if expressing sympathy for a person in this context:
 
I�m sorry for her, she looked so tired when I saw her.
 
 
I found this:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2314106

They are both fine, and pretty much interchangeable, I would say.
If the thing you�re sorry about is not actually your own fault, you can say sorry about or sorry for.
If you feel you personally are at fault in some way, you�d probably say "sorry for".

I�m sorry about the delay (there�s not much I can do about it, the circumstances are beyond my control)
I�m sorry for the delay (if I/we had managed our time better, or organized ourselves better, the delay might not have happened)

 
 
 

14 Oct 2012